Chapter Text
“Your birthday is in two weeks?”
Vice’s high-pitched exclamation was the first thing that woke Navi up.
“What—” Navi mumbled, barely out of her dreams, when a weight nearly crushed her to death. “Urghrg—”
Vice had landed on the side of her bed, but she had leaned over and was now shaking Navi’s shoulders with an enthusiasm she usually reserved for shaved ice and bonus salaries. Her gaze was gleaming with bright excitement when Navi peeked her eyes open.
“Vice? Training’s not due for another hour,” Navi complained, trying to wriggle away from her and back under her warm, warm blanket.
“Oh, quit your whining.” Vice poked Navi in her stomach. Navi squealed, trying to worm her way further across the bed in a spectacularly unfashionable manner. “Soroz told me your birthday is literally. In two weeks. Why have you never told me this before?”
Navi glanced back, utterly confused. “Because I never knew?”
“You never knew?” Now it was Vice’s turn to look puzzled. Her tail whipped in a small circle, resting on her lap, as it always did whenever she was curious. “Have you...never celebrated it before?”
Navi pondered slowly, trying her hardest to remember the slow, dull echo of her childhood spent in the hunk of Colossus metal. Soroz had tried their best, and she’d had the Fireflies, but it still felt like an illusionist’s trick. Voices and presence but with no substance. It was only when Vice and her crew had found her that she’d felt a real sense of being, like her skin and veins and blood had only formed into a person then.
“No, not really...” Navi trailed off, hesitant. “I mean, I knew we’d have a special day to celebrate ...me, I guess. But no one really knows when I was born. I guess Soroz decided to use the day when we linked up as my birthday, but I never remembered when it was.”
In her mind, Navi could feel a spark of warmth from Soroz at her words. She smiled a little, continuing: “Soroz would try their best, but since I can’t really celebrate with them physically, the Fireflies would. We had a stash of meat that we kept for special occasions, so they’d just make me a small feast.” Vice looked like she was on the verge of tears, so Navi quickly rushed to add: “It’s not really until I met you that I fully understood human traditions anyway. I didn’t mind it.”
“But —” Vice’s expression was now scrunched up in determination.
Oh, no.
“We have to do something! We can’t just let your first birthday with the Colossus’ new gang pass by without celebration!” Vice insisted, her tail starting to wag, her eyes blazing with the might of a thousand event planners’ spirits.
Inwardly, Navi was punching herself hard. She had forgotten the dangers of disclosing such a thing to Vice: the Illumina officer always wanted grand gestures.
Vice, meanwhile, was still ranting: “A small feast isn’t enough! Everyone in Illumina knows the beauty of occasional fun, and birthdays are especially something special! Okay.” She paused, taking in a deep breath, before announcing, grinning, “I have decided to throw you a birthday party.”
“Without my consent?” Navi said dryly, reaching for her blanket again.
Vice whipped the blanket off the bed to Navi’s groan. “Exactly! You’re the birthday girl.”
“There you are!” A sound rings from the open doorway. Vice and Navi looked over to see Brock dressed in full sports gear, a red headband around his forehead, looking way too alive for six a.m. “Vivian said she saw you heading this way, Vice. Ready for our morning drills? Let’s whip some asses!” He shoved an enthusiastic fist into the air at the last word.
“Brock, perfect timing!” Vice leaped up, grinning even wider. Navi’s stomach plummeted with dread as Vice continued, gesturing at Navi still curled up, now blanketless. “We’re gonna throw a party for Navigator in a couple of weeks! It’s her birthday!”
“It is ? Hell yeah!” Brock whooped, flailing his arms in the air. “I’m down!”
“Why are you both screaming,” Navi grunted as she rolled over, wrapping her pillow around her head. Maybe she could try to fall back asleep and pretend this was all a part of her dream.
Both of them promptly ignored Navi and began throwing out ideas, ranging from mild to extremely concerning. At first Brock suggested, “Oh, I could get us an exploding keg! Beer foam rain, am I right?”
(Vice vetoed a firm no to that.)
And then he switched tacks and pleaded, “okay, fine, what about an exploding piñata? But like inside it’s also alcohol!”
(Vice was starting to get a little worried about how Brock loves exploding things. Navi also added that piñatas are meant to explode, so that’s just redundant, also can we stop this whole party idea right now? )
“Alright, alright, I got it,” Brock finally settled down, his expression now holding a focused gleam that unsettled Navi once again. Jesus Christ, how did this get so out of hand? “We can stock the party with Istvan’s alcohol and do drinking games.”
(Vice wholeheartedly agrees and began to whip out her notepad, writing down a draft to order Istvan’s alcohol supply right away while Navi kept insisting for them to maybe fucking not. Both of them once again ignored her, and instead dashed off to plan the party in earnest.)
As they left her room, Brock winked at a stunned Navi. “Don’t worry, we’ll make this party the talk of the entire land! You just sit back and enjoy, Navigator. People will absolutely die!”
“Of excitement!” Vice added, giving Brock a sharp side-eye.
As they rounded the corner of Navi’s doorway and out of sight, she could hear Vice’s concerned voice ask Brock one more time: “Right? Of excitement?”
Navi could only blink. Torn between a secret thrill at celebrating her birthday properly and exasperation over the fuss Vice and Brock would most definitely make, she could only stare at the empty doorway in groggy disbelief. She most definitely was not awake enough for this.
And then one tiny thought flashed in the back of her mind: does that mean Barton will come too?
That’s when Navi fully groaned out loud, a strangled sort of yell, and fell back onto her bed in frustration.
/
The first day Navi met Barton, she had been too intimidated to carry a proper conversation.
The legion commander had agreed to join the Colossus in an effort to wipe out recently increased Eclipsite attacks. He’d strode onto the Bridge, and Navi’s jaw had almost dropped had she not stopped herself from doing so.
Navi had seen a lot of men at that point, which still came as an alien shock to her sometimes, but she’d slowly gotten used to them. Istvan and his gang had come onboard a month ago, Taki had joined last week to see Hiiro again, and the Rediesel Wrench would hop in and out regularly. They were all intimidating, men of so many shapes and sizes and colors like Navi had never seen before, but she was strangely not as bothered.
But Navi saw Barton, his white hair streaming pure white as snow, his broad shoulders and strangely slim waist a sensual contradiction, striding onto the Bridge with a confident grin on his face —
Oh.
“Navi?” Barton spoke her name, and she lost the ability to respond. His grin unfurled wider, the scar running along his eye making it slightly feral. “I was told I’d meet you here.”
“Ah— right.” Navi’s mind blanking, her usual words of welcome disappeared right out of her tongue. Instead, she merely offered him her hand in a daze.
Barton shook her hand, and Navi almost jumped out of her skin at the sensation. This close, he smelt like clean linen, fresh out of the dryer, a bit of a gunpowder scent lingering as well. His skin was rough from tiny scars and calluses, but it was almost sensual, how he’d slid his fingers in between hers and gripped firmly. His strength was apparent right away, and Navi’s stomach dropped at the weird sensation. What is going on?
Shaking her head to clear the stray thoughts away, she withdrew her hand back. “Uh — please let me know if I can help you with anything,” she rattled off almost mechanically, not quite meeting Barton’s eyes.
This reaction was normal — this was perfectly, perfectly normal. It’s not Barton. It’s just pure hormones; having been on the Colossus for so long and only learning about men and anatomy and intimacy through the scarce romance novels stocked in the library, her curiosity was obviously piqued. She had had urges, after all, just nowhere to really pour it into.
So this reaction was normal, she tried telling herself again. She couldn’t really bring herself to believe it, though, not with Barton’s azure eyes staring at her so intently she could feel his gaze trail a path on her skin.
“Hmm,” Barton hummed, the sound low in his throat. He’d noticed Navi avoiding eye contact, and was intrigued at the reason why. Was she just shy, after all the years she’d spent alone? That was a fair assumption.
Besides, a lot of people had been intimidated by him before. He’d hoped for her to perhaps relax — they’d be working together over strategy in the coming months, and he preferred a conducive environment when it comes to discussing warfare. So he continued, attempting a teasing tone and patting Navi on the shoulder: “What about a training boot camp? Wanna get absolutely wrecked by me, work our bodies?”
Instead, Navi blushed crimson as she jolted a little at his touch. Her heart picked up speed, intimidated by the sheer proximity and that word Barton had used: wrecked. Maybe it really was her pent-up tension all throughout the year. Or maybe it was the way Barton’s gaze lingered a little too long.
A brief image flickered in her mind, like a small blaze, hot to the touch. (“Who would’ve thought you were such a fucking whore for me, huh?” Barton would whisper roughly, his palms carelessly gripping her hips, bending her over and thrusting inside her without mercy, his breath grazing her ear as she’d beg louder and louder — )
“Navigator?”
Navi blinked. She realized Barton was waiting for her answer, and suddenly she was all too aware of how she’d just fantasized about a stranger she met a minute ago - right in front of said stranger.
By Gods, she was fucking losing it.
“Oh - sorry, I -” she mumbled a string of incoherent apologies, before attempting to put her dignity back together. “We do have a training room here in the Colossus, and Vice and Brock are in charge of training if you’d like to discuss it further with them.”
Barton knew Navi was flustered, the blush in her cheeks standing out in the soft afternoon light. He was never much into girls like her, but he had to admit she looked adorable all stilted and stuttering like that. Maybe that’s why he pushed it a little further, just to see. “Do you play chess then, Navigator?”
“Huh?” In a moment of confusion, Navi forgot her shyness and lifted her gaze to meet Barton. She looked puzzled, head slightly tilted like a baby bird.
Adorable. “Chess? Do you not know what that is?”
“I do, of course.” Navi sounded slightly defensive, and Barton had to hide a chuckle at her defiance. “Istvan plays it a lot, so he taught me a little of the basics.”
“Mm, that’s a shame,” Barton responded, slowly grinning again as he stepped a little bit closer. He noticed how Navi immediately took a fraction of a step back, as if they were in a dance. He nearly laughed, intrigued at her behavior. “It’s an extremely crucial game for strategy, I’d say! It could benefit you to learn more. Would you like me to teach you the rest?”
Navi’s eyes widened slightly at the offer, and the blush in her cheeks now flushed even hotter. Her breath was coming up short, her heart uncomfortably loud. As if in a trance, her mouth worked by itself: “Uh, I think Jomu has an illegal black market set up in the Colossus.”
It was Barton’s turn to draw up short. He blinked. “What are you talking about?”
“So, uh, there’s this guy, Jomu,” Navi hastily began to patch words together, flailing for an explanation. “He’s like, totally ripping off everyone by selling products at a much higher price, which you know — isn’t good for the profit and loss statement, so uh, I have to...go and stop him right now?”
“Why are you asking me?” Barton chuckled, highly amused.
“I’m not!” Navi wondered whether it was too late for Soroz to turn around and dump Barton back onto Illumina. “I do. I do have to go. Uh -” she was about to turn away when she remembered that she was the hostess, and quickly added, “- Vice is at the Lounge, just down the hallway from here. You can ask her for further details about your stay, if you wish to.”
Before Barton could open his mouth to thank her, she’d quite literally ran away, leaving him standing alone in the open expanse of the Bridge. He could only stare at her fading form, a bemused smile hanging on his lips. The air felt a little different, heavier somehow. He shook his head to clear the strange feeling; she was cute, but he wasn’t interested in her like that.
Even so, as he began walking toward the Lounge, his skin felt prickly. A hot rush gathered in his stomach, Navi’s reddened cheeks flashing again in his mind - it would be so easy to ruin her if she’d let him. He inhaled sharply at the thought, trying to contain himself. This was nothing out of the ordinary, almost expected now that it’s been a while since he’d last fucked his brains out or fought some heady, adrenaline-filled battles.
He just needed to fight some more Eclipsites, and then whatever this is will fade.